Living Yearbook Showcases Imperial Talent

Jun 12 2004 18:51

Tom Elliott

Today saw a wide array of events and activities across campus in IC04, a great day marred only by a lack of attendance

A Judo demonstration in Beit Quad

Billed as “A Living Yearbook”, today saw IC04, a festival of Sport, Culture and Community taking place across campus. The first event of its kind at Imperial, IC04 was a joint venture between Imperial College Union and the Imperial Volunteer Centre, intended to showcase the wide variety of activities students and staff partake in to the community as a whole.

Scheduled to open at 11am, events in Beit Quad got off to a somewhat slow start, and to a very small audience, the skies threatening rain. However, things began to pick up around midday, as more spectators assembled. Early arrivals were treated to a wide variety of live music provided by IC Jazz and Rock, with acts both on stage outside and in dBs. Meanwhile, fencing workshops were given in the Union Gym, and the Union Dining Hall saw a demonstration by the Table Tennis Club.

As the afternoon progressed, the barbeque saw brisk trade, and crowds began to grow outside the Union building, taking in an exhibition of Judo, and more acts provided by Jazz and Rock, followed by an Aikido demonstration, and a display of fencing. Meanwhile, the Ultimate Frisbee Club set up on the Queen’s lawn, encouraging passers by to try their hand at the game.

Later in the afternoon, activities in Beit Quad swelled in number, Indian Soc presenting excerpts from their recent show ‘East Meets West’, Skate Soc demonstrating their skills, the stage playing host to FuNkoLoGy Urban Dance (who had been holding classes earlier in the day) and the Wargames Society staging duels.

Throughout the day, Jez and Bo’, mascot vehicles of the Royal College of Science and the City and Guilds College Union respectively, provided free rides to attendees outside the Union, proving very popular. Also, the Rifle and Pistol Club and the Archery Club offered people the chance to have a go at their respective disciplines. RAG too were doing their rounds, collecting money and selling this year’s recently produced Rag Mag.

The Origami Society and Indian Soc also held stalls in the ‘Secret Garden’ in Princes Gardens, Origami Soc providing Origami workshops, and Indian Soc offering Henna tattoos, traditional Indian jewellery and dance classes. As this was intended to be the family area for IC04, a bouncy castle was also provided for children. Unfortunately the Garden seemed to prove a little too ‘Secret’ and as such, did not see as much interest as other areas of the event.

Finally, to round off the day, the Riding Club gave a polished dressage performance on the Queen’s Lawn, which seemed to impress many of those watching and capped off the day nicely. Better yet, they didn’t damage the lawn.

Overall, IC04 was a very enjoyable event, showcasing the wealth of talent and expertise that can be found at Imperial. A number of students were heard to remark that they had found something new and interesting to try out, and the enthusiasm of the participants in sharing their pastimes was truly inspiring. Unfortunately, attendance at the event was not as high as it could have been and, particularly in the early stages, performers found themselves before mere handfuls of people. The general crowd also seemed to be made up primarily of students and it appeared as though the aim of showcasing activities to a wider community was not as successful as would have been liked.

Nonetheless, it was a most worthwhile day, both to attend and take part in and future events will hopefully prove to be even better.

there were 6 instructors who hung around, lugged kit to st. mary's for scuba diving, and only 3 did a try dive, everyone just pulled out. 10 people turned up to archery in kensington palace gardens, and apparently while booking the sessions, it was not made clear where the archery would be held.

the secret garden was rather secret.....

yes it is a good event, however, needed for advertising, and i think some things that are quite labour/safety intensive need a refundable deposit.

just my thoughts.......

some suggestion has been to combine it with the summer carnival/freshers fair....

Strangly I did know that it was happening, and I'm not even at the college... Possibly because I was roped into standing behind a sound desk for a couple of hours due to a slight media centre staff shortage. Anyway...

Yes, It is an event with huge potencial, but it lacked something holding it together. There were no signs around indicating what could be found in other places (that I saw). It was generally too spread out, so that if you wanted to see everything you'd have to spend a large proportion of your day moving around.

Definately something that should be repeated though. It was a successfull event and there are several things that have become apparent that should make it a _more_ successfull event.